Under The Starry Night Sky
by ludwigsgirl97
Summary: Kiku is a young Japanese boy who spends his time dreaming of his best friend and secret crush, and one day seeing the stars that are hidden from him by the Tokyo smog. An entry for a Deviant art contest. Has some language, but nothing very sexual.


"Hey, Kiku!" Atsuko Naratake, a young girl with short black hair calls, running up to you. She has skin pale as the moon you can only vaguely see through the smog filled night of Tokyo. Anyone who thought that New York never slept had obviously never met the insomniac city that was Japan's largest. And you know it all to well. You had lived here all your life, and had yet to see a single star through the bright lights and pollution. You often dreamed that you were in the rural parts of the country, where the dark night was filled with beautiful stars, more than even you could count, with the math genius title you had so stereotypically gained for yourself.

"Oh, hello, Atsuko-chan." You say back, blushing slightly. You had gone to school with this girl since you were seven, and she was your best friend. But that was the problem wasn't it? You had been friend zoned before your young mind even knew there were other zones, and so you could never be more. Not to mention as you had gone through high school, she a sports star, and the only female member of the martial arts club as well as the leader, and you as the leader of the math club, and universally acknowledged biggest nerd in Tokyo, she had always picked the tough guys. She had never been with a guy that was small, or meek, or couldn't hold his own in a fight with her, which was quite the feat. You, however, were the exact opposite of this type. As mentioned above, you were a complete nerd, and were about five feet tall. This wasn't too big a problem, as she was fairly short as well, and was even an inch shorter than you. You were the weakest guy possible. You were often beat up by your little sister, Mei, and that wasn't because she was all that strong, either. You wondered why she was even friends with you unless out of pity.

"It's your birthday today, right?" She asks raising an eyebrow. She had smiled all the time when they were kids, but she didn't really do that now. In fact, she hadn't smiled that you could remember in months. It made you kind of sad, considering her cute, white smile was beautiful in the way it stood out against her near-scarlet lips. She didn't even wear make-up, finding the stuff a disgusting waste of time and money. Not that she needed it. Green eye shone like emeralds, and you would rather have those pressed to your chest than any amount of the precious stone, but not in a creepy way, like you wanted her eyes severed from her body. You just wanted a hug, or maybe some semi-romantic cuddling. Wow, now you were even arguing with yourself. If it weren't for the fact that the object of your affection were right there, you would have bashed your head against the nearest wall, which happened to be the manga shop you worked at, and provided the most business for.

"Yes, it is." You answer. You would tell her that she needn't get you anything, but that would assume that she had gotten you something, and if she hadn't it would only make things awkward.

"Well, come on. I got a surprise for you. She says, and you smile softly, knowing that your Asian complexion is slowly turning red as Santa's stockings.

"You know that you don't have to get me anything." You protested, following her to her car, a beat up German model that looked positively clunky on the streets of Japan, but she hardly cared. She loved the thing, and it would have been a dead man and a fool who tried to take it away from her.

"See, you always tell me that, so I got you something that is both immaterial as well as being free. Just get in the car, please?" She pouts, and every ounce of protest that you didn't have in the first place faded away, and you hopped into the vehicle in spite of the fact that her driving was possibly the worst you had ever seen. You almost suggest that you take the wheel instead, but know that she is quite defensive about her driving. You wish that she would be defensive _in_ her driving instead.

"Don't worry, Kiku, I'll be real careful. I know how much my driving scares you." She promises, and you smile a little, thinking that you must have been fretting visibly. But then again, she seemed to know what you were thinking even when you couldn't quite sort it out yourself. Except, of course, when it came to her. She would often ask you if there was any special girl in your life, and you would reply with "only you." and she would chuckle. God, that laugh of hers made you think that you had died and gone to heaven, and she was the greatest angel, muse to the lord himself. Unfortunately, she never got the hint that you liked her as more than a friend, and so you were still in the lukewarm of the friend-zone.

"Thank you." You say, quiet as usual. She used to think that it was because you didn't want to talk to her, but now that she had known you for more than a decade, she had come to understand that it was just your way.

As she drives, the sun begins to set, but she shows no signs of stopping. You wonder where it was she was going, and if she had plans on even coming back. You know that she lived on her own, so she didn't have to worry about parents, but you have an angry father who would make you clean until your fingers bled if you came home late, in spite of the fact that you are a nineteen-year-old college sophomore.

"You may want to tell your Dad that you'll be home late. Just tell him that we went to my place to study. Technically speaking, the land is mine, so you wouldn't be lying. I know how you hate to lie." She says, and a soft smile appears on her face, but it looks fairly sad, which killed the joy that bubbled in your chest any time she was smiled.

"Okay. But, if this will bring up bad memories, then we don't have to go." You say, but she shakes her head, refusing to allow her emotions to ruin your present. It was one of the things you love her for, but wish she would stop. Everyone else came before her, and even with you she didn't like to talk about emotions. She was always the picture of strength, and you hoped that the picture wouldn't ever smudge with all of the leaning people did on her stoically painted shoulders.

"It'll probably bring up more good than bad. Besides, you'll love it, I promise." She had never broken a promise. In spite of the fact that she was quite impoverished, she still managed to get into the school that you had chosen, mostly through sheer willpower and her interview with the dean, solely because she said that she would. He had let her in, and had even given her a full scholarship, provided that she work the miracles for his marshal arts team she had with the high school's. She had done so of course, and so she still attended the school, while he had to work to pay of some of his amassing debt.

After an hour and a half of her driving, and you arguing with your father, you arrive at the place you had assumed she was taking you to; the farm that her grandparents had owned, and left to her parents, and them to her, and that she had spent every summer of her life living on. The animals were all gone, but it was easy to see where each one would have been when the place was alive and well.

"Hey Kiku, want to see your present?" she asks, and you nod. She grins mischievously, scaring you as well as making your heart fist bump itself in a strange sort of victory dance at having gotten her to smile. She wraps a black blind-fold over your eyes, and leads you by the hand. You stumble three times, focusing more on the fact that she was holding your hand than the fact that you were walking. You even forget to breath at one point, which is odd because that is an autonomic function. Again, the urge to bash your head presents itself, but you couldn't find the nearest wall, even if you were free to express the desire.

"Okay, now sit down." She commands, and you do so. She peels your blind-fold off, and you are sitting upon a hill. Across the landscape of rolling hills it none other but the stars that you had so desperately wanted to see. You drink in the slurry of twinkling lights, wishing that you could stay here forever.

"Do you like it?" She asks, and you smile softly. You love it, but for some reason having one wish granted has made you a bit more bold than usual.

"They are beautiful, but I can't seem to look at them long." You say, knowing that this is the cheesiest line in the history of lines, but you're going for it anyway.

"What do you mean?" She asks, apparently never having heard it before. Your face is bright red, and you want to kill yourself right now. You want to grab a dagger out of nowhere and commit seppuku. That is how embarrassed you are. But you've already started, so you have to finish.

"Well, I have something much more beautiful to look at over here." You continue, gazing lovingly into her eyes like you were in some cheesy romance film.

To your surprise, instead of looking deeply disturbed, she smiles the biggest smile you have seen in a while, and continues the gaze, even, dare you hope it, reciprocating the passionate eye contact.

"That's sweet of you, Kiku. I'm supposed to be the one being nice to you, it's your birthday, remember?" she says, and you notice the normal confidence she always has in her speech falter, her face flushed nearly as bright as yours.

"But that smile of yours is a gift in and of itself. So for my birthday, even though you've already given me what I've always wanted, can you promise to forget what I'm about to say if it makes you angry?" You ask, and she nods, for once not having a long comeback to everything you say. You take a deep breath.

This is it.

You are going to do it.

You will finally tell the girl you have been in love with since you stopped thinking that girls had cooties that you were so far in love with her that falling into a bottomless pit would seem shallow by comparison.

"I really like you, in a romantic way." You mumble, still holding her gaze, but feeling like a complete idiot.

"Called that shit." She says, raising an eyebrow and grinning. You were on a roll tonight with the smiles. But did she know already?

"Wait, what?" You are confused. If you weren't too nerdy to have a Facebook, your status right now would be "what the fucking-fuckidy-fuck-fuck," in spite of the fact that you never, ever curse. Did she already ship you guys or something. You knew that one of the few things you had in common was anime, but to ship yourself with other people was getting pretty into it.

"I thought that you liked me, but you never said anything. I went out with douchbags, hoping that you might get jealous or something, I don't know. I'm kind of retarded like that." She mumbles, and you simply smile.

"So do you like me in that way as well?" You ask her, and to your surprise, she pounces on you like a cat, knocking you onto the grass and pressing her lips softly to yours. This is your first kiss, and you are sure that the reciprocation you provided is completely inadequate, especially considering the smooth types she had been with previously. She'll pull away from you any minute, and call you a little kid and run off.

As if your subconscious wanted to prevent this, you place a hand on the small of her back, pressing her to you slightly. You are quite shocked when she doesn't make any sort of effort to stop this, but instead kisses you harder. When her hand runs through your now tousled hair, you pull away, and pant as you stare into her uncertain eyes.

"H-how far are you intending for this to go? Is it proper to be this so soon after confessing? I-" you are a completely oblivious buffoon when it comes to something that can't be solved with a formula, and this is defiantly one of those things.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I've just kind had all these feelings bottled up for a long time, and I guess they all just came out at once." She says, and you immediately feel like an ass.

"That isn't what I meant. It was not that I didn't enjoy it, or want it to progress, it is just that…" You trail off, biting your lip, as if that can help the situation.

"Just what?"

"I want you to know that I love you. I want to take you out and make you love me too. I want to court you, and woo you and all of the things that a good man should do. I don't want to just come out to nowhere and roll in the hay like you're some common whore." You say, all of it coming out in an embarrassed rush. The biggest shock seems to be at your use of the expletive "whore" as it was the kind of thing that you would scold her lightly for saying.

"You're so sweet, Kiku. I knew that you were the right guy to wait for." She says, and you're eyes shoot open.

"Huh?" You cock your head to the side, confused once more.

"I never even let any of those guys kiss me. I always wanted to be with you. I made a good choice." She says, and your heart nearly explodes with the sheer amount of positive emotions going on.

"I love you, Atsuko." You say, placing another soft kiss to her lips before pulling her to your chest, where she curls up like a cat.

"I love you, Kiku." She responds, and you smile as you watch her begin to drift into sleep. You can't decide whether to look at her or the landscape in front of you. Eventually you decide on the stars. You'll be able to look at her anytime you want from now on. Because she became yours under the starry sky.


End file.
